Easter Sunday: Back Where It All Began

A sermon written and preached by the Reverend Scott D. Nowack on Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012

at First Presbyterian Church, Kilgore, Texas.

Back Where It All Began

I Corinthians 15:1-11

John 20:1-18

One of my favorite speakers and preachers is Dr. Tony Campolo.  I had the pleasure to hear him preach at a presbytery meeting in Philadelphia a year or so ago.  To say he is very engaging and charismatic would be an understatement.  Tony has a powerful gift for storytelling that is both entertaining, intelligent and convicting.  Dr.  Campolo tells the story of a little preaching competition that he had with his pastor during services at the church where he attends in West Philadelphia. Dr. Campolo tells how he preached the perfect sermon, perfect in every way. He had taken the congregation to the heights of glory and the depths of despair. And as he sat down beside his pastor, Dr. Campolo patted him on the knee and simply said, “Top that.” The older black pastor looked at him and said, “Boy, watch the master.”

It was a simple sermon, starting softly; building in volume and intensity until the entire congregation was completely involved, repeating the phrases in unison. The sermon went something like this.

It’s Friday. Jesus is praying.  The disciples are hiding and Peter’s denying. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is beaten, mocked, and spit upon. Those Roman soldiers are flogging our Lord and they press the crown of thorns down into his brow. But Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. See Him walking to Calvary, the blood dripping from His body. See the cross crashing down on His back as He stumbles beneath the load. It’s Friday; but Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. See those Roman soldiers driving the nails into the feet and hands of my Lord. Hear my Jesus cry, “Father, forgive them.” It’s Friday; but Sunday’s coming.

It’s Friday. Jesus is hanging on the cross, bloody and dying, heaven is weeping and hell is partying. But that’s because it’s Friday, and they don’t know it, but Sunday’s a coming.

By the end of the message the old preacher was simply calling out, “It’s Friday” and whole congregation was responding, “Sunday’s coming!”

Well, Sunday is here.  Sunday is here and we come together in this holy place before the powers of darkness and evil to say to the darkness that there is no scheme, plan, or operation; there is nothing you can do to separate us from the love of God in the resurrected Jesus. 

It’s been a long week.  We’ve been through a long season that has brought us to this time and place on this glorious Easter morning. 

Just a few days ago, it looked like all hope for the world was lost.  Just a few days ago, it appeared that evil had won; evil had gained a victory over all creation.  Just a few days ago, it appeared to us that the Lord Jesus, who lived and dwelled among us, was defeated, conquered, vanquished and crushed; all our faith and hope all for nothing. 

The hours felt like days since Friday.  Is this the end?  Has our savior Jesus finally met his match?  Is the strife over?  Will the battle ever be won? 

But the story doesn’t end this way.  The story of Jesus Christ does not conclude on Friday.  To fully understand the significance and importance of Easter, we must go to the beginning, to where it all began.

It’s when you look back over the experiences and memories of your life that you gain perspective on what led you, what guided you to this point in time.  The events and experiences of our lives don’t always make sense to us while they happen.  As a kid in school, learning how to spell correctly, to write properly and do math accurately seemed pointless at the time.  Why do I have to learn all this?  I didn’t understand the cumulative effect of the years of learning, from grade school to middle school, to high school, college and graduate school until after it was over and, looking back over those experiences, realizing how each step along the way led to another step, and another, and another and so on.

The disciples didn’t get it.  They didn’t fully understand what Jesus was saying through his parables, his teachings and his miracles.  They thought they did, but it was only after the events of Easter that they put all the pieces of the puzzle together.  They were finally able to connect the dots because of the resurrection of Jesus.

And this is how the Gospels were written.  Jesus didn’t have a personal publicist or somebody to record every move he made, every step he took, every event, every teaching, every miracle he did.  The gospels of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are written long after Jesus.  These writers take the collective memory of those who followed him and knew him, write it down and try to make sense of it all.  It’s the resurrection of Jesus that is the crowning moment of Jesus’ ministry and God’s action on earth.  It’s the starting point for all the gospel writers.

Resurrection is what makes forever possible!

This is the "good news" that Paul wants to convey to the Corinthians in this famous resurrection chapter. The good news of Jesus' resurrection is the hope upon which they should "stand" (15:1) and through which they are "saved" (v. 2). The core of Paul's preaching and work was centered on the central fact of the resurrection of Jesus, who "died for our sins ... was buried ... raised on the third day ... in accordance with the scriptures" (vv. 3-4) Paul's three-fold use of that phrase "in accordance with the scriptures" indicates something significant.  It serves as the record of what had happened on Easter morning and that it wasn't just a random posting of a snapshot of God's work, but the culmination of a story that had been moving this way from the beginning of human history:

- Jesus himself didn't leave his own paper trail, let alone a digital life.

- To our knowledge, Jesus never wrote a book or even a letter, and yet more books have been written about him than any other person in history.

- He didn't write down his sermons, and yet his followers thought they were important enough to preserve every word.

- He never blogged, but he is the subject of many blogs.

- He never friended anyone on Facebook, and yet he was a friend to everyone, especially the broken and the outcast.

The story of Jesus thus isn't one that's just preserved in print, it's preserved even more so in his own nail-scarred, resurrected body. The empty tomb stands as God's ultimate last word on human suffering and death. As God raised Jesus from the dead, the promise is that we, too, will be raised to a new life in a renewed world where we'll not only be remembered, but see Jesus and each other face to face -- no Facebook required. Our joy won't be restricted to 140 characters. We won't need to preserve our words because we will see the Word that became flesh. There will be no need for last words because death will be no more.

With our salvation secure, how do we live in the present day?  We have the opportunity to create a different kind of legacy that will last long after us and into the time when Christ comes again to make his kingdom a reality.  The kingdom puts our lives in the context of God’s larger purposes, in line with his will.  By doing so, our lives are placed into the context of God’s larger purposes and perspectives.  We may not be remembered as individuals many generations from now, but the legacy of what we do for the kingdom of God will last.  Leaving behind words and material things is good, but a legacy to leave behind is to make the world look more and more like the kingdom of God, so that when it comes, it’s not such a shock to our senses!

If we are really following Christ, then we know the true legacy we leave for the next generation should reflect Christ’s own work and ministry.  Every time we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the hurting, stand with the oppressed and the outcast, fight injustice, and give our lives with humility and passion in sacrificial service to others, we are building a legacy that will last well beyond us.  It’s Sunday…new life’s a-comin’. 

When we not only digest the words of Jesus, but actually do what he did, we’re living the resurrection in the here and now.  When you help out a friend with financial assistance in their time of need, you are living the resurrection life.  When you wake up early on a Saturday morning to prepare, serve or deliver meals for over 150 people with your Saturday Bread team, you are living the resurrection life.  When you believe God has placed a calling on your heart to bring together the blacks and whites of Kilgore, Texas to build up our community, you are living the resurrection life.  When you serve your church unselfishly, when you see a need and try to fill it, when you work above and beyond your written job description because you believe in the power of God, you are living the resurrection life.  When you love your spouse with all that you have, when you set before your children the living example of what it means to be a disciple of Christ, you are living the resurrection life. 

The legacy we receive from the Apostle Paul is we are to be vested in people and show them the resurrection life in the present.  Easter allows us to have this long term view of life that goes way beyond death.  Jesus did not fade away into dead space or outer space or cyberspace, and neither will those who follow him.

My friends, it’s Sunday because Friday has come.  It’s Sunday because Friday has come.  Amen.